Comment: Thank you Jack (Score 1) 83
The first SF I read was the Demon Princes, many decades ago. Got me hooked on the genre for a while. Still my best travel agent to faraway places you can only go in your imagination.
Canada's Internet Among Best, Report Says 186
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the not-just-good-at-having-moose dept.
from the not-just-good-at-having-moose dept.
silentbrad writes "Canadians enjoy among the fastest, most widely available and least expensive broadband Internet in the developed world, says a report released Thursday. The report, based on the results of 52 million speed tests of broadband users across the G7 countries and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) membership, was produced by Montreal-based consulting firm Lemay Yates Associates Inc. on behalf of Rogers Communications Inc., the country's largest broadband service provider. It disputes the OECD's own report, published in July, that ranked Canada's high-speed Internet offerings significantly below those of other countries. The report comes days after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission revealed a sharp jump in the number of complaints it has received regarding Internet traffic-management practices, or 'throttling' in recent months."
And it's about to get a little better — reader ForgedArtificer points out that Rogers has promised to end all throttling over their network by the end of the year.
+ - Did Google Undermine U.S. Ability to Compete?
Submitted
by
theodp
theodp writes "On June 6th 2007, Google's VP of People Operations testified before Congress that being able to hire the most talented employees was 'essential to the United States' ability to compete globally.' If that's the case, and allegations in a newly-released court document from the High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation case are to be believed, then was Google busy at work on that same day undermining the nation's ability to compete? From the Court document: 'On June 6, 2007, Arnnon Geshuri, Google's director of staffing, emailed [Google CEO] Mr. Schmidt, copying others at Google. (GOOG-HIGH TECH-00009764.) Mr. Geshuri wrote that Bill Campbell, Intuit's Chairman of the Board and Apple board member, “requested that Intuit be added fully to the Do Not Call list. . . . Please confirm that you are okay with the modification to the policy.” Afterward, Google contacted Mr. Campbell for permission before making employment offers to Intuit employees, even if the Intuit employee contacted Google first.' The Verge also reports that Steve Jobs personally asked Eric Schmidt to stop poaching employees, and Google responded by arranging to immediately and publicly fire the employee who initiated the call. The Court document also charges that Intel CEO Paul Otellini tried to hide and downplay a 'global gentleman's agreement' with Google. 'Let me clarify. We have nothing signed. We have a handshake 'no recruit' between Eric and myself. I would not like this broadly known,' Otellini reportedly wrote."
Comment: Re:By the way, game prices in Australia (Score 1) 55
Thanks for your (and the other guys posting as ACs) detailed answers.
So it's mostly a ratchet effect on the foreign exchange, with massive impact because of AUD/USD volatility.
It sucks that online platforms such as Steam are playing that game and not allow you to buy in USD at US prices... Well it also sucks for me to some extent (although online prices in Japan are not so bad - almost in sync with the US, the selection is limited, with AAA titles such as Arkham City missing for obscure reasons, etc). There used to be a time where I actually relied on Steam more, when they had not implemented regional segmentation yet. Now I am back to brick and mortar import shops or HK based outlets.
Comment: By the way, game prices in Australia (Score 3, Interesting) 55
Why is it so expensive? Taxes?
Or just good old price fixing?
I am a European, now living in Japan, and have ordered a lot of stuff from the US over the years. While I can figure out most factors for explaining game prices in these 3 regions (the 1 USD = 1 GBP = 1 EUR "special exchange rate", VAT differences, margins lower in the US vs rest of the world aka price fixing), I still cannot make sense of the outrageous prices in Australia...
Comment: Meaningless. Revolt or get lost. (Score 5, Funny) 451
If I see these guys putting top investment bankers' heads on spikes or something, then I will take them seriously. With fear and respect. Otherwise, they are just whiny hippies.
Ask Slashdot: Best Open Source License For Guitar? 102
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the modular-guitar dept.
from the modular-guitar dept.
First time accepted submitter PraxisGuitars writes "I am working on developing an open source electric guitar. I wish to make the basic structural system completely open and free, with a standardized interface allowing different body shapes and modules to be bolted on. I am having trouble figuring out the best way to release the files. There seem to be at least half a dozen open source licenses out there; The Thingiverse has some precedent for open source 3d data, but version control seems like it might be difficult. I have looked into sourceforge and github, but don't know enough to know if that would be the best choice. Are there other precedents out there? Is there a better way?"
UK Video Game Tax Cuts Sabotaged? 123
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the i-wonder-if-it-rhymes-with-shmactivision dept.
from the i-wonder-if-it-rhymes-with-shmactivision dept.
ninjacheeseburger writes "Develop recently published an article claiming that the UK government was put under pressure by one of the biggest game companies in the world to cancel planned tax breaks for video game developers. This company had apparently viewed game tax relief as a measure that would have given the UK an unfair advantage over other nations."
+ - iPad To Be SIM-Locked in Japan
Submitted
by
bravni
bravni writes "Unfortunately, it appears that Steve Jobs' promise not to lock the iPad to any carrier will be broken when it is released in Japan later this month. All iPads 3G sold in Japan will be SIM-locked to Softbank Mobile. Also, you will not be able to get a SIM-card only subscription from Softbank on a legitimately unlocked iPad bought abroad, whether you imported it or you are a visitor. This is a major disappointment, even amongst Softbank users, since they will not be able to fully use their iPad 3G when traveling (nope, cannot use prepaid data SIM from foreign carriers either). This Japan-exclusive crippled version will come at full price, no carrier subsidy.
Yet another indication that Japan is the Galapagós of mobile technology. Is extinction the next step?"
Yet another indication that Japan is the Galapagós of mobile technology. Is extinction the next step?"
Police Called Over 11-Year-Old's Science Project
687
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the duck-and-cover dept.
from the duck-and-cover dept.
garg0yle writes "Police in San Diego were called to investigate an 11-year-old's science project, consisting of 'a motion detector made out of an empty Gatorade bottle and some electronics,' after the vice-principal came to the conclusion that it was a bomb. Charges aren't being laid against the youth, but it's being recommended that he and his family 'get counseling.' Apparently, the student violated school policies — I'm assuming these are policies against having any kind of independent thought?"
Wii Hardware Upgrade Won't Happen Soon 325
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the can't-show-ugly-mario-in-hd dept.
from the can't-show-ugly-mario-in-hd dept.
As high-definition graphics become more and more entrenched in this generation of game consoles, Nintendo has had to deal with constant speculation about a new version of the Wii that would increase its capabilities. Today, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime bluntly denied that a hardware revision was imminent, saying, "We are confident the Wii home entertainment console has a very long life in front of it." He added, "In terms of what the future holds, we've gone on record to say that the next step for Nintendo in home consoles will not be to simply make it HD, but to add more and more capability, and we'll do that when we've totally tapped out all of the experiences for the existing Wii. And we're nowhere near doing that yet."
Comment: Re:World opinion (Score 1) 1026
Mod parent up. The perception of the US abroad is probably what is going to change the most at the moment he becomes president, even if it might not be so obvious as seen from inside the United States.
Video Games Linked To Child Aggression 500
Posted
by
CmdrTaco
from the zomg-this-makes-hulk-smash dept.
from the zomg-this-makes-hulk-smash dept.
the4thdimension writes "CNN is running a story this morning that explains new research showing a correlation between video games and aggression in children. The study monitored groups of US and Japanese children, asking them to rate their violent behavior over a period of several months while they played video games in their free time. The study concludes that it has 'pretty good evidence' that there is a link between video games and childhood aggression." Stories like this make me want to smash things.
Browsing Frugally Without Wasting Bandwidth? 450
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the ix-nay-on-the-orn-pay dept.
from the ix-nay-on-the-orn-pay dept.
forrestm writes "At home, my internet connection is limited to 1GB / month before I have to pay extra. At my university, I'm charged around 2.5c per megabyte. I rarely download anything big, but I often go through a large amount of bandwidth by simply browsing around. For example, when I play a YouTube video, click a link, and then return to the video, the whole video reloads. When I read some websites, such as BoingBoing.net or Cnet.com, my status bar shows a whole lot of data being transferred through other domains. Some pages seem to send/receive data at certain intervals for the duration of my visit. When I begin to enter a search in Firefox's search bar, a list of suggestions is automatically downloaded. In addition to this, Firefox often requests internet access of its own accord, even though I have automatic updating turned off. All this is costing me! How do I stop unsolicited use of my internet connection? How do I go about not wasting bandwidth like this?"
Large Warhammer Patch In December, Two New Classes 55
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the tank-you-very-much dept.
from the tank-you-very-much dept.
Eurogamer reports on an announcement from Mythic CEO Mark Jacobs regarding the future of Warhammer Online. Jacobs said the first big content patch will be coming in December, and it will contain two new classes, the Black Guard and the Knight of the Blazing Sun. These are two of the four classes lost to the pre-launch content cuts. A number of other changes are on their way as well.
"The Knight of the Blazing Sun is described as a tactical leader using Battlefield Commands, while the Black Guard is simply 'the embodiment of hatred and disdain.' The arrival of the two new careers will mean that every race in the game has a damage-taking tanking archetype. Of the originally planned careers, only the Dwarf Hammerer and Greenskin Choppa, both melee damage-dealers, will remain on the cutting room floor."